


I’m Just Your Problem

by biggayhimbo



Category: haikyuu
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackmail, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:27:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29279943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biggayhimbo/pseuds/biggayhimbo
Summary: this is for my friend and beta reader kaz, have some tsukihina hurt/comfort and you’re lucky i didn’t make it a hurt/no comfort(also idk why the wiki on hinata spells it shoyo and the tags all spell it shouyou but. fuck it.)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	I’m Just Your Problem

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irleddiekaspbrak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irleddiekaspbrak/gifts).



Shoyo, Hinata. 

Not the brightest boy academically, but not stupid. 

Just oblivious. 

Really, really oblivious.

So when his teammates notice the way girls look at him during games, he insists they’re lying. 

When his friends point out the stares he gets in the hallways, he insists it’s nothing. 

And although it’s a surprise to the other boys when Tsukishima Kei slowly stops teasing him about his height, he’s just happy it’s ended. 

Kei isn’t exactly the chatty type, either, so his longer-growing silences around Hinata aren’t often noticed by him either.

But his best friend gives Kei looks as they practice, slowly and surely connecting the dots on his behavior.

Yamaguchi notices the vengeful glares at Shoyo’s spikes, the pinch-lipped snarls to match sunbeam smiles, the way any and all conversation is stamped out- and easily understands. 

“Tsukki.”

“What?”

They’re walking home, nearly at the corner where they go their separate ways. 

“You like him.”

It’s a matter-of-fact statement, no room for dissent. 

“I hate Hinata.”

It was a very simple sentence, and a trap. 

“I never said _who,_ Tsukki.”

One hell of a trap.

“It was implied.”

“No, it wasn’t. There are any number of boys you hate- and now you’re blushing, see?”

“You haven’t even looked at me.”

“I don’t have to. I’m right.”

“Well, Tadashi, _if_ you’re so confident you’re right, what do you stand to gain by telling me you know?”

“Nobody else knows, see. And we have fractions in our math homework today.”

Kei stops dead in the middle of the block. 

“Are you blackmailing me?”

“You could always just confess to him.”

“So you are blackmailing me.”

“Sure. Blackmail. Confess your stupid, sappy feelings to our good friend Shoyo, or do my homework. Correctly.”

A deep sigh, and he starts walking again. 

“Give me your worksheet.”

Somehow, the triumphant laugh Tadashi lets out as he hands it over is more embarrassing than the idea that someone else has figured out his feelings. 

After a week of math homework and Tadashi’s smirks, Ennoshita picks up on it too. 

Kei has a feeling in his gut that Ennoshita’s known the whole time, but having Narita, Kinoshita, and the future captain hold back giggles when they look at him is way more embarrassing. 

Then Kiyoko catches on, then Yachi and Asahi. 

After a Saturday morning practice full of sideways looks and muffled laughs that even his furious glares can’t snuff out, he’s pretty sure almost everyone else has it figured out. 

Even Kageyama gets the tip-off from Suga- so the only person who doesn’t know is Hinata himself, happy that everyone else is having “fun” and directing lots of sets to him. 

After a weekend of throwing volleyballs at his ceiling and trying to drive any thought of the “carrot-topped bastard” out of his head, Kei resigns himself to a confession by the end of the week. 

If he puts a deadline on it, it’ll happen, right?

But on Monday, during endurance training, although he falls into step besides Hinata, he can’t make himself spit out the words. 

And on Tuesday, after a late night of writing and rewriting that left his hands covered in graphite and ink, when he goes to slip a letter into Hinata’s bag, it feels wrong. Almost incomplete. 

On Wednesday, in spite of his best efforts, he ended up walking to the store ahead of everyone else instead of staying behind to talk, and then chickening out to go home early. 

So on Thursday, Kei skips out on breakfast and the news to get to school early and talk to Hinata. But Tanaka and Noya are there ahead of time too, and the three of them are shirtless and fistfighting instead of practicing. 

And while he feels guilty about turning away from an opportunity to confess, he sets a resolve: tonight, after practice, come hell or high water, it’ll happen.

But after practice, Hinata has cleaning duty, and the rest of the team seems dead-set on interrupting any confession chance Kei gets. 

Suga:

“Hinata, I-”

“Hey! Shoyo! Come run another round of quicks with me before we pack up!”

“Oka-y!”

Then, ten minutes later, Tanaka:

“I was-”

“HEY! SHOYO! QUIT SLACKING AND COME PICK THE FUCKING VOLLEYBALLS UP!”

“QUIT SWEARING, I WILL!”

Narita:

“Hinata, I have-”

“Hey! Shoyo, will you come help me carry the forms to the school office?”

“Coming!”

And with a quick smile that would rival the sun, he books it for the gymnasium door, where Narita stands with a crooked smirk.

Then, Asahi locks up the gymnasium, gives Kei a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, and leaves him in the plaza to wait. 

When Hinata and Narita emerge from the school again, finally, finally, finally, Narita leaves, and it’s just them in the courtyard. 

“Hinata, I’ve been wanting to-”

“Kei, I’d love to talk, but my sister is home waiting on me, I have to go make dinner for her. Can you tell me tomorrow? I wasn’t expecting to be this late.”

“No- I’ll just walk you home. And tell you on the way.”

“Really? It’s a long way.”

“Yeah, it’s- it’s alright.”

On the other hand, in spite of everything he noticed about Hinata, he didn’t realize it was a bike ride up a mountain until they were standing at the foothills of it. 

“Are you sure you want to walk me home? It takes a really long time on foot.”

Internally, he curses himself. _Dumbass. Should have confessed on the walk here…_

“It’s fine.”

Still oblivious to the red flames twisting up Kei’s neck and face, Hinata just smiles and starts up the slope. 

Ink-black clouds stud and swirl over the top of the mountain, but neither of the boys notice, just march on. 

And reaching the summit, Kei still hasn’t confessed, and it’s only a few minutes to the house. 

_Now, Tsukishima, you have to tell him now. If you don’t, you may never get the chance again. What do people even say in confessions like this? What do I tell him?_

_Maybe: I like you?_

_What if he thinks I mean it in a friendly way? Is he dumb enough to do that?_

_Probably._

_Could I just tell him I’m in love with him? That would get the point across, but it’s too straightforward._

_I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF HE’S GAY! IF I HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM, DOES THAT MAKE_ **_ME_ ** _GAY?_

_I think so, right? But that means that- that means that he could be straight, and what if I’m confessing-_

_And what do I even say?_

_“Hey Hinata, I know we aren’t even using our proper names, but I have a crush on you.”_

_“Hey Hinata, I know I’ve been a jerk to you for the past six months, but it’s actually because I am secretly attracted to you.”_

_The fuck is this, a sitcom? And what do I do if he says he’s not interested? What do I do if he’s not even interested in men? Do I just go ho-_

Thunder crashes overhead, and suddenly the sky bursts forth with buckets of rain.

“Oh! I’m sorry! Quick, Kei, do you have an umbrella?”

The falling rain gives him cover for the blush actively spreading through him, but Kei just shakes his head.

“No- do you?”

“No, but here.”

And he plops his bike down between the two of them and throws one leg over to get on.

“What are you doing?”

“We don’t have an umbrella, so we have to ride. It’s get on or get rained on.”

It’s a very odd ride, the tall string-bean of one boy and the tiny, buffed figure of another on one bike, and it’s not a good help for Kei’s blush to watch as their shirts plaster together and turn transparent under the water. 

Then they go down a bumpy dirt driveway up to a one-story house, where Hinata props his bike up under the porch eaves and a little girl with orange hair slams the door open.

“Shoyo! Where were you? You know mommy’s busy- Oh, hello. You’re blond. And tall. Are you a princess?”

And she runs off into the house.

“Sorry about her, she’s just excited, really. Come in.”

Shoyo’s blushing, half laughing, and he goes inside with Kei slowly following as the little girl comes back around with a fairy wand.

“Here, here, look! You can be a princess now!”

Kei crouches down to her level and smiles.

“Thank you very much. Go see about your brother now, I’ll only be a minute.”

Hinata looks up from peeling his wet tennis shoes off. 

“Natsu, stop, stop. Is dinner done yet?”

“Well the rice is all done, but I didn’t know exactly what you wanted, so I had to wait for you to come back and tell me what to do, and I’m hungry!”

Kei straightens up. “I’ll only be a minute, Hinata, I just needed to talk about something.”

Natsu gives him a look.

“You should call him Shoyo, that’s his name and you’re his friend.”

Hinata looks up from where he’s unlacing his shoes.

“Might as well, the rest of the team already does. Now- Natsu, can you go and very carefully start cutting up the celery we bought last week? Use the safety knife.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay!”

And she runs off down the hall. 

Shoyo smiles.

“It’s alright if I call you Tsukishima then?”

“Yeah. Fine. Listen, I’ve just got something to say and then I’ll be gone.”

“We’re up a mountain you don’t live on in the middle of a thunderstorm. Surely you don’t want to leave now?”

“I guess that’s fine.”

Twenty minutes later, the three of them are sitting down to beef stew and rice as a storm rages outside.

Then Shoyo sends Natsu off for bed, and since the storm’s still going:

“Do you want to just go study?”

“Uh. Sure. Fine. But I think we have different homework.”

And they do have different homework, and although it’s uncommon, Shoyo doesn’t register the meaning of being helped with some of the answers. 

So while he sticks his nose into his English workbook to finish off the reading, Tsukishima goes for his phone.

**13 new messages from Tadashi**

**4 new messages from Tanaka R.**

**6 new messages from Nishinoya Y.**

Looks like they put two and two together.

“Hey, uh, it’s still raining. Do you want to stay the night?”

_I haven’t confessed yet. I have to now or I never will. If he says no, I’ll leave. I’ll go home if he says no._

“I don’t want to bother you.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not. I’ve got a trundle bed you can sleep on, if you want?”

“That’s- that’ll be fine.”

Another bout of thoughts runs through his mind. 

_Why is he so fucking nice to me? I don’t do anything nice for him. And he’s nice to me the same way he is to everyone. What does he gain?_

“Hey, scoot over, I have to turn off the lamp.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Hinata looks down from where he’s kneeling on his bed and turns to stare at the skinny figure below him, who’s sprawled back with his hands behind his head as a cushion. 

“What?”

“I only just realized- you aren’t normally nice to me like this. What was it you wanted to say earlier, anyway?”

_Sink or swim._

“I- uh. Erm.”

Just a confused look.

_Sink or swim._

He shoves up from the trundle bed and accidentally smacks their foreheads together, but ignores the pain and takes the silence to start talking as Shoyo rubs at his face.

“I- I don’t think you’re a pest!”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me...”

“Shut up!”

He jolts backwards a little bit, surprised at the outburst, but it doesn’t register as Tsukishima’s hands clench into fists and he stares down at his lap. 

“I don’t think you’re a pest, and I- I don’t think you’re annoying, but either way I can’t stand to look at you!”

Hurt. He looks hurt, but it goes unnoticed as he shrinks back towards the wall and Tsukishima stares down at himself in a rage. 

“I can’t stand to look at you! You’re loud, and stupid, and you never shut up about volleyball, and I would rather die than have to let you be better than me! And that’s why I hate you, you already are! You already are, and I pour everything into this!”

It’s no longer just hurt that’s painted on Shoyo’s face, there’s shock too, but Tsukishima is still pointedly staring at his lap and doesn’t see it.

“And I hate you for being better than me and being stupid and being loud and somehow being nice enough to just ignore me about all the mean things I do to you, and I hate you because- because how can you be all that and still make me like you! I don’t understand how you can do all that and still make me like you- make everyone like you, but especially, _ESPECIALLY_ me!”

And he looks up with an awful glare that does nothing to hide the tears in the corners of his eyes, but Shoyo’s nearly crying too.

But his face slowly shows his register of the weight of the words. 

“You- you like me? Like-like me? Crush like me?”

He lifts a hand to his face, wipes his eyes, and settles his glasses back into place.

“I guess-”

Thick, held-back sob and a crooked smile. 

The height difference between them makes it so that even as they’re seated at different levels, their faces are close. 

“I guess I do.”

“You like-like me…”

Deep fear registers on Tsukishima’s face, and he pushes off the bed and starts gathering his school things.

“Wait! Wait! Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“But it’s raining!”

_He isn’t telling me he wants me back._

“Who gives a fuck? I’m going. Tell your sister I said goodbye.”

He’s down the hallway by now.

“Tsukki! Hey, wait!”

Hesitation, for half a second as he pulls his coat on. 

_Tsukki?_

But he lets out a bitter, tense laugh instead.

“I’ll see you at practice, _Hinata_ _.”_

He leaves the venomous words hanging in the air, then yanks his shoes on, not bothering with the laces, and runs off into the night.

Poor Shoyo is still recovering from the shock, and by the time he jumps out of bed and makes it to the front of the house, Tsukishima is gone, leaving behind only an open door and two sneaker-shaped puddles.   
  


And out on the highway, one blond head, halfway covered by a black jacket, is sprinting towards his home. 

Although for as much as the poor boy cares, the jacket might as well not be there. What’s a little rain now that it’s never going to be sunny?

Tsukishima Kei is valiantly trying not to cry, so when the first sob of many slips past his lips, it rips from his chest and breaks him in two, tearing at his throat, leaving a coldness inside him.

He keeps trying to hold back for another minute, but as the darkness stretches even under the streetlights, he caves and lets another pitiful hiccup escape him. 

Awful, hot tears fall down his face in tracks that feel just like the rain after a while.

Bag beating against the side of his leg, feet slipping in the mud as he makes a mad dash in the direction he can only hope will take him into town, he lets himself think the thankless thoughts welling in his brain. 

_How am I that stupid?_

_What an awful time to confess- what an awful fucking confession. Hardly a confession, more like an insult._

_Way to go, Kei. Now not only does the whole team know, they know you got rejected._

_Good fucking jo-_

A hand at his elbow spins him around, knocking his jacket off his head.

Hinata. Still in his pajamas with untied sneakers and no coat or umbrella, chest heaving. 

The sight of him brings out another gut-wrenching sob that he hides with a fake laugh, wiping at his eyes. 

“So what’d I leave behind?”

But the attempt at banter is bitter, and listless, and it gets ignored. 

His fist curls in the front of Tsukishima’s shirt and lightning flashes as he yanks him down to his level, faces inches apart.

“You’re such an idiot! You’re such a FUCKING _idiot!_ ”

And then-

and then he kisses him. 

The rain is still pouring when they break apart, but the tears have stopped.

Two shocked smiles appear in unison.

The tears have stopped, so Shoyo lets a half-laugh slip out of him, and pulls Tsukki back into another kiss. 


End file.
